Peter Kirk
>
As the modern Hebrew speakers on this list have only confused me and
others, I asked a someone I know who attended a Hebrew school in Israel,
although actually a Christian Arab. According to him:
rays (plural) = keranim, construct karne
horns (plural) = keranot, construct karnot (?)
horns (dual) = karnaim, construct karne
He admits that his knowledge is imperfect. But would anyone choose to
correct him?
Peter Kirk
The above is fine, but I would add that im Mod. Heb. Keren is also commonly
used for "fund" , and the pl. here is Keranot. Of course the correct
transliteration of the letter Quf is a Q.
The only verse I see so far where QRNYM means "rays" is Hab 3:4. I
wonder, is there any possibility that the word there is a homonym of
the word meaning "horns" and actually derives from the verb QRN,
meaning "shine," which occurs in Ex 34:29-30, 35? BDB says the verb
is a denominative from the noun "horn," to which it ascribes the
meaning "ray" in Hab 3:4. But it is at least conceivable that the
"ray" and "shine" words represent an entirely different word, not
simply an extension of meaning and form of QRN meaning "horn."